Elvis Perkins - ‘All The Night Without Love’ (XL) Released 21/05/07

Having already received strong praise Stateside for his debut album ‘Ash Wednesday’, Elvis Perkins comes to the UK with some hype beginning to build behind him. Unfortunately, on the basis of ‘All The Night Without Love’, it’s hard to see what the fuss is about. Perkins has a decent, tender, yearning voice but it’s wasted on the most plodding of material. The single itself features soft drums and an acoustic strum, along with a simple, straightforward and folksy melody that struggles to imprint itself. It chugs along without bursting into life, never managing to be anything more than mediocre and lethargic. Not that you’d expect the spirit of At The Drive In to suddenly appear musically but some energy, any energy would be appreciated. 

B-side ‘The Dumps’ is even worse and accomplishes this by keeping Perkins solid vocals but adding in a far more depressing tune, some harmonica and somehow progressing even slower, reducing the pace to the level of a continent shifting. It may help narcolepsy sufferers but that’s about it.